The Zen of magic squares, circles, and stars : an exhibition of surprising structures across dimensions / Clifford A. Pickover.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pickover, Clifford A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Magic squares.

Mathematical recreations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (426 p.)

Edition:

Core Textbook

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Humanity's love affair with mathematics and mysticism reached a critical juncture, legend has it, on the back of a turtle in ancient China. As Clifford Pickover briefly recounts in this enthralling book, the most comprehensive in decades on magic squares, Emperor Yu was supposedly strolling along the Yellow River one day around 2200 B.C. when he spotted the creature: its shell had a series of dots within squares. To Yu's amazement, each row of squares contained fifteen dots, as did the columns and diagonals. When he added any two cells opposite along a line through the center square, like 2 and 8, he always arrived at 10. The turtle, unwitting inspirer of the ''Yu'' square, went on to a life of courtly comfort and fame. Pickover explains why Chinese emperors, Babylonian astrologer-priests, prehistoric cave people in France, and ancient Mayans of the Yucatan were convinced that magic squares--arrays filled with numbers or letters in certain arrangements--held the secret of the universe. Since the dawn of civilization, he writes, humans have invoked such patterns to ward off evil and bring good fortune. Yet who would have guessed that in the twenty-first century, mathematicians would be studying magic squares so immense and in so many dimensions that the objects defy ordinary human contemplation and visualization? Readers are treated to a colorful history of magic squares and similar structures, their construction, and classification along with a remarkable variety of newly discovered objects ranging from ornate inlaid magic cubes to hypercubes. Illustrated examples occur throughout, with some patterns from the author's own experiments. The tesseracts, circles, spheres, and stars that he presents perfectly convey the age-old devotion of the math-minded to this Zenlike quest. Number lovers, puzzle aficionados, and math enthusiasts will treasure this rich and lively encyclopedia of one of the few areas of mathematics where the contributions of even nonspecialists count.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

CHAPTER ONE. Magic Construction

CHAPTER TWO. Classification

CHAPTER THREE. Gallery 1: Squares, Cubes, and Tesseracts

CHAPTER FOUR. Gallery 2: Circles and Spheres

CHAPTER FIVE. Gallery 3: Stars, Hexagons, and Other Beauties

Some Final Thoughts

Notes

Index

About the Author

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9786613339904

9781283339902

1283339900

9781400841516

1400841518

OCLC:

769342158